Behind Counter Beverage Station

I’m setting up the layout of my second location and thinking about not offering free refills on soft drinks. I may put the fountain behind the counter. What’s your opinion?

If you expect to be a busy operation, then you would need an extra employee just to pour drinks. That’s a waste of labor to me. It’s almost across the board now as an industry standard to offer free refills. I think you’d be sorry to put the fountain behind the counter. To get away from refills, you could simply sell cans or bottles only. You’d save on needing an ice machine, but your profit margin will be less on cans and bottles. I still feel a self-serve fountain would be the way to go.